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Belhaven. P.O.15th Oct. 1911.

Mr N. C. Draper Grand Coulee. Sask.

Dear Noah I missed your letter lastnight, but Ill be looking for one to-morrow night. Well this is anotherfine Sunday. our rain storms seemto be staying away now for thislast two day have beenlovely. It rained all day Wednesdayand Morm Yorke was married toMinnie Traviss. Also Willie Sweetwas married to Laura Traviss. Soit was'nt much of a day for thewedding. , 'eh' Morm came home lastnight. and they certainly made things

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lively. Willie came home Wednesday.brought his bride up here to Elis'swhere I suppose she had to get herown supper. for there is no onetheir but Elis. Then they tried tofool the people by slipping out theback door and through the fieldsbut the ony followed them. "ha ha".Say. I hope you are having somefine weather by this time, forreally it must be very discouragingto think your grain is out in somuch rain.Quite a few of the boys have comehome from the West. Orville isnthere yet, but I hear he does'nt thinkmuch of it. George Draper is home soI hear, and I hear again that EdythDraper is to be married. Say! there isno end to the number of people that

are engaged around here. CarlMorton & Leslie Morton are engagedfor I hear. they are SecondCousins too.I got your card. But I believe either youor I failed to be at the Kings for wedidn't happen to meet one another "ha ha"I hope it is not long before will beable to meet some place anyway.How does Veda like going to College?Uncle Emanuel & Miss Hunt were herelast tuesday. Grandma & Grandpawwere here on Friday. & we had quitea visit with old people last week. OldJohn Prosser was here yesterday. Sayyou remember him dont you. everything is the fool. or the brute. "ha ha"Hello. here I am again. I beenaway for a little while. butbad pennies are sure to return. We have been to Sunday School& home with Mahoney's for tea

had a lively old time. We walkedup to church, & home again. andhere is where I land first of all.Our church was nearly full to-nightSo many young people were there fromKeswick. We were late so did nt allgo up in the choir.Oh! say I wish you were only startingdown here to-morrow. I'll be gladwhen you get all that work of yoursdone. I think you had better leave someand let me help you. for that is justwhat I want to do. "We two'. work togetherall alone by ourselves. I think youmust be doing to-much, wait for memy good old boy.Oh I wish your home was right nearhere some where. so I could see youoftener. I wonder whats the use ofmy wishing so much. I think I hadbetter stop for this time. Iclose with Love & xxxxs Your Sweetheart Ethel forever.

Genealogy Notes

Genealogy Note #1: Norman Yorke

I knew Ethel had mentioned Norman Yorke and Minnie Traviss before, but when I went searching, I kept coming up with Morin York because that's the way Ethel had written it. Even in this week's letter she writes, "Morin Yorke was married to Minnie Traviss." Here are other letters mentioning Norman:

I wonder if it's just a habit for Ethel to write Morm instead of Norm? Regardless, I found this snippet in the era about the happy occasion:

The Newmarket Era. October 20, 1911

Mr. Norman Yorke of Belhaven andMiss Minnie Traviss were married atNewmarket on Wednesday last. Wewish them every happiness.

Genealogy Note #2: Shivaree or CharivariA shivaree is an old-fashioned way to welcome a the newly married. Friends and relatives surround the newlyweds' house when they think the couple has gone to bed and then make as much ruckus as possible with all kinds of noisemakers. Sometimes this keeps up for hours before the newlyweds invite them in for some refreshments. Most newlyweds try to sneak away.

In this week's letter, Ethel writes... Then they tried to fool the people by slipping out the back door and through the fields but the ony followed them. - Ethel's words are verbatim - as if she was trying to write the words so fast her fingers couldn't keep up to her thoughts.

The second pararagraph of this hard-to-read snippet talks about the shivaree for Norman Yorke & Minnie Traviss, and also Willie Sweet & Laura Traviss:

A couple of young men left us onWednesday, and returned after a shortabsence with their wives. Congratu-lations. The young people of this vi-cinity with various instruments, suchas dinner bells, cow bells, plow coul-ters and tin pans, gave them livelymusic on the nights of their arrival.

The Newmarket Era. October 20, 1911

This charivari is from Nov 26, 1926 and the newly married couple is Edith Draper who is often mentioned in Ethel's letters. Edith had health problems as a youth and married William Crowder later in life, but that didn't stop the 'boys' from welcoming them home. And if you notice, after they were done with Edith and William, they went to 'pay their respects' to the next newlyweds.

The Newmarket Era Nov 26, 1926

Writing this post about the charivari reminds me of my tour at the Canadian Armed Forces Base in Cold Lake, Alberta back in the early 80's because we encountered something similar.

I remember that my parents were visiting and it was the first time they ever came for Christmas so I was trying very hard to show my best front. But around 11 pm a day or two after Christmas, several people showed up outside our door and living room window - singing and yelling for us to let them in. We did because it seemed quieter that way. So in they came and we offered refreshments. They sang carols, etc, and then when we encouraged them to go, they said we had to go with them because that's how it went.

As their admonitions grew, we realized the only way to get them out was to go with them and since my parents were there in case our daughter awoke, both Nelson and I went with the crowd. I can't say I enjoyed the experience because some people - all co-workers - just didn't want to get up and let us in, but the partyers insisted until the lights came on and we were invited inside. We corralled our hosts as we went along so the crowd grew with every house call until we finally escaped and headed home around 4 am.

The next day, I tried to explain to my parents this Christmas charivari-like tradition, but I can't say they were impressed. If I remember correctly, only one of us went the following year while one stayed back, and I don't remember ever being bothered by anything like it since. My parents never came back for Christmas, either.

If you google shivaree or charivari, you'll find all kinds of stories including several that turned into murders, etc. At times, it's a fine line between a charivari and a riot depending on who's doing the 'music' and who's doing the running.